SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Father Joe's Village is reporting that 200 more unhoused people sought therapy and other mental health resources in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 2024.
"It just opened so many doors mentally that I can understand and I know how to do things,” Annette Kohler, a Father Joe's client, said. "I'd like to think that somebody sees me and says, 'Hey, if she can do it at 69, I can do it at 30.'"
Annette Kohler was homeless from 2019 to 2023. She lost her home to a fire, struggled to rebuild, and ended up in Father Joe's Village two years ago.
"I think I might not be alive,” Kohler said. "I was just tired. I just wanted to die. And when I went into his office, even being defiant and saying, 'Oh yeah, this isn't going to work.' He just said something that gave me hope."
Kohler is referring to her therapist, Marc Stevenson.
He's the director of behavioral health services at the Village Health Center at Father Joe's Villages.
"Knowing that we are doing these services in a way to make them feel safe, and that's what most of our folks want to feel,” Stevenson said.
Numbers from the nonprofit show more folks coming to Father Joe's to look for that hope.
According to data from the nonprofit, there were 788 Q1 visits for behavioral health services in 2024. That number jumped to 993 visits for 2025 during that same time period, which was roughly a 26% increase.
"We're not too exactly sure if this is because we are doing some expanding,” Stevenson said. “We've also tried to implement an urgent care type of setup for behavioral health clinicians available for people when they walk in in crisis or want to see a mental health clinician."
Both Stevenson and Kohler told ABC 10News it may also be word of mouth getting more people in the door.
"We go to group, and we leave, and we talk about it out there, you know? And just what we learned and what we want to learn,” Kohler said.
"We're able to just reach out to more people, and more people are starting to hear about this benefit from it and come in,” Stevenson said.
